Distributing mechanism



Aug. 25, 1942. F. H. METZGER DISTRIBUTING MECHANISM Original- Filed Ma19, 19:57 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1942- F. H. METZGER DISTRIBUTING MECHANISMOriginal Filed May 19, 1937' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 25, 19422,294,194. DISTRIBUTING MECHANISM Frank H. Metzger, Mountain Lakes, N.J., as-

signor to Sorting Methods & Equipment 60.,

Incorporated, New York,

New York N. Y., a corporation of Original application May 19, 1937,Serial No.

Divided and this application Decemher 2, 1940, Serial No. 368,111

Claims.

This application is a division of my application, Serial No. 143,457,filed May 19, 1937, since matured into Patent No. 2,231,633, datedFebruary 11, 1941, and the invention relates to a distributing orsorting mechanism, and more particularly to a device adapted to assistin distributing or sorting cards, sales tickets, papers, correspondence,etc., preparatory to filing of such members.

In general the device comprises a movable carriage having supportedthereon a plurality of leaves hinged on horizontal axes extendingtransversely of the carriage, so that these leaves may swing about theiraxes and be supported by members at the ends of the carriage in inclinedoverlapping relation. It will, of course, be understood that owing tothe spaced position of the lower portions of the leaves in the carriage,the upper edges of each leaf will be exposed so that indicia thereon maybe visible to the user.

The user may, by grasping any particular leaf, raise this leaf, togetherwith all those in front or behind it, as the occasion may be, so as toslip a member to be filed, such as a card, sales slip or letter, betweensuch leaf and the next adjacent one. The carriage upon which the leavesare supported is movably mounted upon a support, so that the device maybe made of any desired length and may be moved back and forth to enablethe user to reach easily all of the leaves without changing position.

One object of the invention is the provision in a distributor of thecharacter described of means for hingedly supporting a plurality ofleaves such that the leaves may be supported, not only for pivotalmovement, but also for longitudinal movement with relation to the baseor support, whereby additional leaves may be readily inserted betweenleaves already mounted in the support without the necessity of removingall of the leaves from the support.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of novel meansfor securing the movable leaves to a support such that they may bereadily adjusted, removed or replaced.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a hinge basemember or movable support for the leaves, which may also serve as aspacing member to space apart two adjacent leaves if desired.

To these and other ends the invention con sists in the novel featuresand combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings:

e Fig. l is a perspective view of a distributing or sorting mechanismembodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the supporting member and carriage of thedevice, the tray containing the movable leaves having been removed; Fig.3 is a transverse sectional view of the complete device on line 3-3 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a partial longitudinal sectionalview on line 4-4 of Fig. 3

Fig. 5 is a partial front view of one of the detachable leaves, togetherwith the hinge base or support for the same; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the tray for supporting the leaves, some partsbeing broken away for the sake of clearness.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have shown asupporting member In having upstanding side members II and 12, at thetop of which are inwardly extending flanges I3 and I4 overlying thesupporting member l0 and forming therewith channels or ways within whichare adapted to ride freely. movable rollers 15 which slidably support acarriage member It. This carriage member, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, issubstantially tray-shaped in form, and is adapted in turn to support thedistributing device, as will be hereinafter explained.

The base or supporting member It] may be provided with rubber pads H atspaced portions, so that it may be placed upon a desk or the likewithout marring the latter or without likelihood of movement when thedevice is operated.

The distributing mechanism comprises a tray l8 which, as shown in Fig.3, may be seated in and rest upon the carriage l6. Upon the bottomportion I9 of this tray may be secured a strip of rubber or similarfriction material 20, so that the tray will cling to the carriage andmove therewith when the carriage is moved with respect to the base uponthe rollers l5. The tray I8 is provided with a false bottom 2| having atits ends upstanding sides 22 provided with inturned flanges 23 whichform guideways with the bottom portion 2|. It will be understood thatthese are parallel longitudinally extending guideways formed at oppositesides of the tray and facing each other.

These guideways form means for retaining the hinged leaves upon thetray, as will now be explained.

The leaves are shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and each comprises a thinresilient plate or leaf of sheet metal 24, the lower part of the sheetbeing wrapped or folded over a rod whose projecting 55 ends form hingepintles 25 and 26. These hinge pintles are adapted to be inserted inperforations in upstanding members 21 and 28 formed at each end of aconnecting strip 29. The strip 29 and side members 21 and 28, which, asshown in Fig. 6, are of channel shape in horizontal cross section, forma hinge support or base for the leaf, the side members 21 and 28 beingslidably mounted in the ways formed at each side of the false bottom 2|of the tray or support I8.

It will be noted that the pintle 25 is shorter than the pintle 26, andthe upstanding channelshaped members 21 and 28 may be sprung outwardlysufficiently to permit the detaching of the short end 25 from the member27, so as to remove the leaf from the hinge support or base member 29,if desired. In this case the hinge support or base member, comprisingthe strip 29 and side members 21 and 28, may be used in the device asspacers to space apart two adjacent leaves, if desired. When no spacingbetw'een adjacent leaves is desired, the members may be arranged asshown in Fig. 4, whereas the end members 21 and 28 of the leaves abuteach other in the channels or ways in which they are slidably mounted.

At its front end the tray or support 1'8 is closed, as shown at 18 so asto close the ways formed by the members 23 and prevent the hinge basemembers from sliding out of the tray. At the other end of the device,the false bottom 2! is provided with a slot 30 within which slides 'athumb screw 31 attached to an inclined support 32 slidably resting onthe bottom member 2|, and having laterally projecting members 33 and 34projecting into the ways to hold the members 21 and 28 in position.

As shown in Fig. 6, if it is desired to remove any of the leaves fromthe device, it is only necessary to loosen the thumb screw 3| and slidethe member 32 rearwardly, so that the hinge base members may be swungangularly with respect to the base l9, whereby the end members 21 and 23are withdrawn from the channels. The reverse procedure is, of course,followed when it'is desired to insert a new leaf into the tray. It willbe apparent that, as the leaves are slidablymounted in'the ways'orchannels of the tray, "as well'as pivotally mounted therein, a new leafmay be inserted 'at any desired space merely by loosening the thumbscrew 3| and moving re ar'wardly the member 32, then opening up a spaceat the desired point by merely sliding all of the leaves rearwardly. Itis not necessary to remove any of the leaves or the hinge base membersfrom the tray in order to insert new leaves at any desired place.Similarly, a leaf may be removed, if desired, without leaving any blankspace, as when the hinge base member has been removed from the channel,the remaining leaves may be moved toward each other into compactabutting position, as shown in Fig. 4.

It will be apparent that the distributor shown herein is capable of awide variety of uses, and, moreover, is designed to give long andeiiicient service. The leaves, as stated, are made of highly flexiblesheet metal, and are much superior to those made of fibre. Moreover, themanner in which the leaves are slidably supported in the tray is suchthat they may be placed or held in compact relation, but at the sametime may be moved apart in order that one or more may be removed fromthe tray individually, and it is, therefore, unnecessary when insertinganew leaf to remove all of the leaves from the support on one side orthe other of the position in which it is desired to place the new one.In addition, the sliding supports to which the leaves are hinged may bereadily detached from the leaves and used as spacer members to space theleaves apart when desired.

Moreover, it will be noted that the upstanding members 21 and 28 areformed integrally with the base or connecting strip 29, and theoutwardly directed flange portions of these members, which make themchannel-shaped in cross section, are integral with the end membersthemselves, as they are integral portions of these members turnedoutwardly to form the flanges. These flanges give a firm slidablebearing for the leaf-supporting members in the ways formed at eachsideof the false bottom 2| of the tray or support l'8, so that when themembers are in position there will be little or no lost motion or playbetween them.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention,it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the detailsshown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit ofthe invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

'1. In a distributing device, a movable support having in-turned flangesat its upper edges to provide longitudinally extending opposed-parallelguideways, hinge elements having upstanding end portions slidablymounted in :said guideways, and a base strip connecting said endportions, leaves hinged to said end portions to swing about an axistransverse to the guideways, means for holding said hinge elementsagainst movement in said guidewaysand in close juxtaposed positiontherein, and said end portions being resilient to be sprung outwardly onsaid strip to'permit detachment of the leaves therefrom and havingtransversely extending side *flanges of substan tial width to abut Ithose of adj acent elements. 2. In;a distributing device, a supporthaving longitudinally extending guideways, hinge elements slidablymounted on said support, leaves hinged to saidelements to swing about anaxis transverse to the direction of the sliding movement thereof, meansto hold said elements in juxtaposed relation, and spacer elementsinsertable between said hinge elements to spaee'apart said leaves, saidspacer elements each camera inga base strip and upstanding, outwardlyfacing channel-shaped endpor'tions slidably mounted in said guideways,said portions 'having vertically extending relatively wide flangesabutting the adj acent hinge elements. 1 3. A leaf for a distributingde'vice comprising a thin flexible sheet metal plate, a pivot memberextending transversely of and secured to the leaf at its lower end andprojecting from the edges of the leaf, a base member extendingtransversely below'the leaf and having end portions upstandingvertically therefrom having outwardly directed side flanges, saidportions beirig provided with openings to receive the projecting ends ofthe'pivotmember and beingflexible with respect to the base memberwhereby they may'bespread apart to insert'the pivot pins in saidopenings.

4. A leaf for a distributing-device comprising a thin flexible sheetmetal plate, a pivot member extending transversely of and secured to theleaf at its lower end and projecting from the edges of the leaf,'a basemember "extending transversely below the leaf and having end portionsupstanding vertically therefrom, said portions being provided withopenings to receive the projecting ends of the pivot member and beingflexible with respect to the base member whereby they may be spreadapart to insert the pivot pins in said openings, and said upstanding endportions having relatively wide side flanges so as to be channel-shapedin cross section, with the channel opening facing outwardly to house theprojecting ends of the pivot between the side flanges thereof.

5. A leaf for a distributing device comprising a thin flexible sheetmetal plate, a pivot member extending transversely of and secured to theleaf

